Gooseberry Picking Poem by Della Perry

Quiet woods was our haunt
Below the gooseberry bushes
Where we found out we were in love
Gooseberry picking our pretense
from prying, eyebrow-lifting parents
Whose disappointment and disapproval would have killed us.
Dappled light shone on our first tentative kiss
Giggles echoed along the corridor of tree trunks
We touched thin, undeveloped bodies tenderly, shyly.
Prohibited love, we were both just fifteen
On hugging our long curls interlocked, yours blonde, mine mousy brown
Our lip gloss; yours bright red, mine pink, joined like glue.
Best friends became lovers in the silent woods
There was nothing wrong with our love
Yet we hid it for so long.
We carried gooseberries in our hoods on the way home.